


Gentle Man

by WemITodd



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Altean Lance (Voltron), Galra Keith (Voltron), He's a bit braver than he is in canon, I want to tag something bUT SPOILERS, Lance is more serious, M/M, Nonbinary Pidge | Katie Holt, Slightly OOC Hunk (Voltron), Tags will be updated, but still acts like a memelord, don't know yet, might be Explicit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-18
Updated: 2017-03-19
Packaged: 2018-08-23 02:46:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8310931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WemITodd/pseuds/WemITodd
Summary: Lance awoke from a ten thousand year cryosleep only to find his world destroyed, his father dead, and the galaxy practically enslaved. The paladins of Voltron had been lost, but the next generation has arrived on Arus to fight Zarkon's empire.If only one of them wasn't Galra himself, he'd find himself happy to work as a team and fight Zarkon.





	1. Before

The castle was in chaos, alarms blaring from all around them. Lance and Allura ran down a hallway towards the the castle's main control room. Somehow, Zarkon had managed to get a small group of Galran soldiers through the particle barrier and they were all flooding towards the King. Lance and Allura had come across some of them, but none of them were too much of a challenge, falling within seconds of being seen. Lance ran, his gun pointing to the ground, using himself as a shield for his sister. The war had cost him so much already, he didn't want to lose anyone else. 

Lance grabbed Allura's hand and spun them down another hallway and then into the control room. Once they were safely inside,  Lance flipped around and slammed the door shut. He turned to see his father dispatch another Galran soldier. Allura ran to the king, wrapping her arms tightly around him. 

"Father," she said, pressing her face into his chest. Alfor returned his daughters hug as Lance let his gun dematerialize and attached the handle to his belt. Allura pulled back and looked their father in the eyes. "Father, we must form Voltron. Zarkon cannot win!" she asserted. The ship rocked with an explosion. Lance fell, his knee slamming into the ground. Alfor managed to stop Allura from falling. Lance quickly righted himself and walked toward his family. 

"She's right, Father," Lance answered. "If Zarkon wins we'll all be doomed."

"No," their father replied, resignation filling his eyes, "The lions must be sent away. Zarkon cannot obtain them."

"It's not too late!" Allura fought. 

Alfor placed a hand on his daughter's shoulder and smiled sadly. "It is, my child, but hope is not lost so long as you two and the lions make it out unscathed." Allura looked up at her father in confusion, then there was a burst of light from Alfor's hand and Allura went limp into her father's arms. 

"What did you do?" Lance asked, running to his sister. 

"What I had to," Alfor answered. He gently set Allura on the ground and turned to Lance. "If all goes well, I will be there when you awaken. I swear that to you."

Another light burst alive to the right of Lance's vision and her felt a wave of fatigue wash over him. "Father," Lance muttered as he fell forward. 

"I love you two," he distantly heard Alfor say, "Please, never forget that." And then, everything was black. 

 


	2. Beginning

Pidge hadn't been in their room when Hunk had woken up. There room wasn't lit by the soft glow of their computer and their room was eerily silent, so Hunk went to the only place he knew Pidge would be: the roof. "Find anything?" Hunk asked and sat down next to his auburn haired friend. 

Pidge glanced up from their computer but their fingers didn't stop moving over the keyboard. "They finally stopped talking about Voltron," they answered, turning back to their laptop. 

"Yeah? What were they talking about?" 

"Some Champion escaped with a halfling," Pidge answered. "Apparently they need to find him before "Zarkon" finds out, but they escaped in a pod and don't know where they were headed." Pidge stopped typing and looked over their shoulder to Hunk. "So I've been getting these weird readings from the desert?"

Hunk sighed, rolling his eyes. "And?" he asked.

"Well, I was wondering..." Pidge paused. "I was wondering if you'd go with me to check them out?" 

"To the desert?" he asked. Pidge nodded, a smile pulling slightly at their lips. "To the desert in the middle of the night?"  Hunk clarified. Again, Pidge nodded and Hunk pinched the bridge of his nose, groaning. He looked up at Pidge and said. "Well, it's not like I can let you go alone."

Pidge squealed, literally squealed, their face breaking out into a wide smile. "Thank you, Hunk!' they cheered. 

"Don't thank me, you owe me lunch," Hunk said as he helped Pidge pack their stuff into their backpack. 

"Will do, Hunk," Pidge answered while shrugging their stuff onto their back. 

Pidge and Hunk walked through the Garrison, sneaking passed the teachers to get out of the building. Pidge took out their phone and plugged in an earbud. 

"That way," Pidge stated, pointing. 

"Helpful," Hunk replied, and followed them. 

* * *

Shiro hadn't planned on taking Keith with him. He didn't plan on the young Galran catching him sneaking into the pod or for him to ask to come, or the puppy-dog eyes that followed the first time he had said no. (He also didn't expect having enough heart to care about Keith's begging, but tonight was full of surprises) He also hadn't expect the Garrison to pin him to a table; maybe Keith, but he would eventually figure that one out, but him? Not a chance. He had been the best pilot in the Garrison when he'd been taken prisoner, so why the hell had he been strapped to a table as soon as he had gotten back?

What he had expected, was Keith having a hidden knife up his sleeve. The kid was obsessed with them, so of course he had so many everyone had lost count. Keith had managed to cut himself loose and had cut Shiro loose within seconds and then they were gone, sneaking out of the tent they'd set up around him. They were running, through the desert and away from the Garrison. Being caught their wouldn't be good for any of them, so they couldn't possibly go back. 

Shiro hadn't really been paying attention to where he was going, the only direction he was following was away, so he hadn't expected to hear anyone call out his name. 

Another surprise. Yay. 

Slowly, Keith and Shiro turned to a pair of... students? The first one, whose mouth hung open in gaping awe, was short with round glasses and wild, short, red hair and was cut very uneven. The other was a broad man who looked about as soft as a grizzly bear but as mean as a rabbit. 

"shiro?" the short one asked again. 

"Yes?" Shiro answered slowly, pushing Keith behind his back. They hadn't noticed the Galra just yet. 

"Shiro, you're alive!" the auburn haired person cheered, throwing their hands in the air. The ran forward to Shiro and asked, quickly, "Where's Dr. Holt, and Matt? What happened to your arm?/ Who's that? Where's my dad? Shiro, where's my dad? Where's Matt?"

The big fellow placed a hand on the shorter one's shoulder. They looked up to their friend who shook his head and they seemed to sink. 

"Do I know you?" Shiro asked. The smaller person flinched and seemed to deflate further. 

"You used to know Pidge," the bigger one answered. "Their family took you in when your mother died." Hunk leaned to his right, trying to peer over the older man's shoulder. "So, who's that?" he asked. 

"Uh... this is..." Shiro trailed off, looking to Keith for help.

The Galran stepped out from behind him and said, "I'm Keith." Pidge's and Hunk's eyes widened in shock. The took in Keith with surprise and awe. He was lean, built for speed, with big fluffy ears on the sides of his head. His eyes were dull in the darkness, but they were obviously very pretty. He wore a black combat outfit with a fitted red half jacket. In all honestly, to Pidge, Keith looked like a try-hard punk, but that seemed to work. (He even had fingerless gloves, what a weirdo).

"And you're what sort of alien?" Pidge asked. 

"You're not surprised?" Shiro asked, sharing a look with Keith. They were both confused. 

"I mean, yeah, we're surprised, but Pidge has been listening to alien transmissions since they mislabeled the Kerberos mission a pilot error," Hunk answered.

"Really?" Keith asked. "With what tech."

"My own," Pidge answered, cheering themselves up. "What are you two doing out here anyway?" they asked.

"Running from the Garrison," Shiro answered. Hunk raised his eyebrows in surprise but didn't comment otherwise. He turned to Pidge and whispered something in their ear while Pidge stared at the sand in contemplation. Pidge nodded and whispered back to Hunk who smiled wide.

"If you'd like," he started, "you can come with us. Pidge was getting these weird readings and we're going to heck them out. Would you like to come with us?" Hunk asked. Shiro and Keith exchanged another look. they didn't even have to talk about it. Both of them nodded and followed Pidge as they started walking again. 

* * *

"A cave?" Hunk asked in disbelief.

"This shouldn't be all that's here," Pidge muttered, knocking their phone against the wall lightly and glancing around. "There should be more here."

"What are these?" Hunk asked, gesturing to some dusty old carvings on the wall. He didn't wait for an answer as he wiped away a thick layer of dust, revealing a squarish carving of a lion. 

"A lion?" Pidge asked, walking closer to him. Then, quite suddenly, the lion began to glow a soft yellow, which spread from one carving to another until the entire room was full of yellow light. the next thing everyone knew, there was a loud crack and they were suddenly dropping through a hole. Pidge and Hunk used each other to get up while Keith, who managed to land on his feet, helped Shiro up. 

"A giant yellow robot lion, apparently," Hunk finished. 

"Is it surrounded by a giant fucking force field?" Pidge asked. 

They all stopped gawking when Keith spoke, muttering, "Voltron?" 

"What did you say?" Pidge asked.

Keith didn't answer, but instead approached the lion, starstruck. 

"Hey, Keith, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Pidge called after him. "That could be dangerous!"

Hunk laughed and said, "I don't think it is this time, Pidge," and followed after Keith. If they could've, Pidge's eyes would've popped out of their skull. Hunk was going. Hunk was going!? What the hell was going on. Pidge followed them to the lion, careful to stay away from the force field, afraid of what it was capable of. 

"Okay?" Shiro asked. "What the hell are we supposed to do will a lion that's practically useless because we can't get to it?"

"Can everyone hear that?" Hunk asked suddenly, taking a step closer to the lion. 

Pidge reached out for their friend, but he just shook them off. "Hunk, hear what? There's nothing else here besides us?" Hunk ignored them, moving closer and closer until her was practically touching the shield with his nose. He lifted his hand and placed it on the field, giving the lion a warm smile. 

The field vanished, falling away from the lion and a loud purr resonated through the room. The lion landed gently on the floor and roared, loud and proud. They all felt it in their bones and then, in their heads. They saw things, flashes of images, of lions, and of Voltron. Their blood was pumping, their hearts were racing. 

Hunk was the first to speak, "Holy shit!" he exclaimed. "Voltron's a giant space robot!" the lion lowered it's head and opened its mouth. Hunk cheered and ran inside. The remaining three shared looks of disbelief and worry, before they followed Hunk on board. When they were all on board, the lion closed its mouth and they all crowded around the pilot's seat, in which Hunk had sat.

For once, Pidge was going to be the one who was sick. 

"Hunk, what are you doing?" they asked.

Hunk answered, "I've got not idea!' 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This might be awhile to update, not because I'm not writing it. I am. I just hate rewriting shit, and I'm not writing this on my laptop, I'm hand writing it, because I hate myself. 
> 
> Anywho, thank you so much for the kudos :D They made my day! And thank you for the comments, they were much appreciated. (If I didn't respond it was because I didn't know how and I apologize.)
> 
> Unfortunately, Hunk won't be getting that lunch anytime soon. 
> 
> Also, I wrote this like half asleep, so if there's any mistakes point the out and I'll fix them. I'll probably edit it tomorrow. I'm gonna go to sleep.


	3. Brave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hunk flies and the lion goes home.

Hunk was surprisingly good at flying the giant yellow space lion, but that didn't seem to settle Pidge, who was clutching the back of the pilot's seat with a hand on their stomach. Hunk hadn't ever piloted a ship before, which meant this could all go horribly wrong. 

"Hey, Shiro?" Hunk asked. 

"What?" 

"Did you by chance escape an alien battleship?"

Shiro answered slowly, "Yes," and looked at Keith, confused. "Why?" he asked. 

"I think they might've found you." Hunk's hands moved away from the controls and they flew over the keypad in front of him. The display changed, focusing on a humongous purple battle cruiser that was heading their way. Shiro cursed and Hunk heard Keith growl behind him. Hunk was, again, typing away at the panel in front of him. "I think Yellow wants us to lead them away," Hunk said. The entire ship seemed to freeze. 

"What does that mean?" Pidge asked. "Who's Yellow?" 

"The lion is Yellow, she likes it," Hunk answered, and looked over his shoulder to Pidge. "She keeps sending me thoughts. They aren't quite coherent, but they're clear. That ship there," Hunk paused, pointing up at the screen, "Is more powerful than anything we have on Earth, and we can't fight it with only one lion. We need to get it away from Earth." Hunk stopped and looked around the small cargo pit. 

Shiro was the first to speak. "But I just got back." He seemed to deflate, a blanket of loneliness covering him. 

Keith looked at the older man. His voice was soft. He said, "If we stay, there won't be an Earth to stay on." The Galran placed a hand on his friends shoulder. Hunk thought of his family, his smiling mother and his little sister. He wanted to stay with them, but he wanted to protect him. Shiro sighed, dejected and nodded. Pidge sighed also, but more out of fear than anything else. There wasn't anything left for them here anyway. 

Shiro straightened his back, hardening his eyes and asked, "Where are we headed?" 

Hunk smiled and the lion purred. He pushed the controls as far forward as they could go. They shot into the sky and out of the atmosphere, nearly crashing into the ship. The lion slammed into the battle cruiser using the momentum to push herself out into the galaxy. Hunk felt her roar and knew the cruiser was focusing on them. 

"Is that Kerberos?" Pidge asked from beside Hunk. Hunk glanced over and sure enough, the moon was beside them. "It takes our ships months to get out this far!"

"A wormhole?" Keith asked. Their attention was drawn then to the main screen. There, in front of them was, in fact, a wormhole. They all glance around looking for objections and finding fear. Hunk checked on the cruiser and saw it was nearly on top of them. He looked around and nodded. The others nodded back and they flew into the wormhole. Suddenly, Hunk wasn't able to control the lion and pulled his hands away from the controls. She purred all around him as they approached a small yellow planet. In the corner of the screen, they saw the wormhole shut. The lion flew down and down going closer to the surface. There was a large white structure, a castle, and the lion flew straight to the doors. They landed softly and Hunk could barely hear anything over the loud purring in his head. Yellow opened her mouth and allowed them out of the cockpit. They flooded out of the lion and stood in front of the doors. 

"Okay," Pidge muttered, knocking at the door, "What now?"

Pidge was answered as the lion stood, tall and proud, and roared. The sound shook the ground the stood on but they all heard the door release and open. The four of them turned to the lion who had begun settling herself. 

"I guess we go through the door," Shiro answered. 

Pidge nodded and walked into, "Might as well, we haven't died yet." They walked into a large foyer. 

"And then?" Keith asked as he followed Pidge inside. 

"Up those stairs," Pidge answered as lights appeared around them, lighting up the stairs. Pidge rushed forward and walked up the stairs following the glowing lights. Hunk, Shiro and Keith chased after them. 

"Weren't you the one who was panicking about this stuff being dangerous?!" Hunk yelled after them.

Pidge shrugged turning down another hallway and then into a room. The air was cold, a chill that was hung by the ghost of people who no longer inhabited their home. Nobody has entered the castle in years. Pidge stopped in the doorway, taking in the sights before them. The room was vaguely lit, but the lights hadn't flickered alive in here. When they did turn on, Pidge saw a circular room with a station that looked like a control board but with two small tablets separated by only a few feet. There were large circles on the ground, ten or so in a semi circle on the ground. Pidge stepped into the room and to the control panels.

"How do you work these things?" they asked.

No one answered. Instead, there was a loud swoosh as one of the circles lifted out of the ground. Pidge turned and saw a girl behind the glass. She looked calm, asleep, but then the glass vanished from in front of her. The others walked towards Pidge, turning to see the pod and all of them seemed to stop breathing at once.

"An Altean?" Keith asked.

The girl's eyes fluttered open and she asked, "Father?" before falling forward into Hunk. 

"Uh... Lady, are you alright?" Hunk asked. 

The girl shook her head, clearing it and pushed herself upright. She didn't answer Hunk, but instead turned to the other pods which were now lifted out of the ground. Two men were enclosed in the pods, both sleeping peacefully. There was a younger looking man with short white hair and the same scales under his eyes as the woman's but instead of pink his were blue. The other pod held a red haired man with pale skin and a mustache. Their glass disappeared and they both fell out of their pods. The woman caught the younger man, but the other was left to fall flat on his face. The boy opened his eyes and looked up at the girl. "'Llura?" he asked before looking around. When his eyes locked on Keith's he jumped, surprised and reached for his waist. "Galra!" he yelled, a weapon materializing in his hands. What looked like a bayard turned into a hand gun that the white haired man pointed at Keith.

The woman spun around, fear and anger in her eyes. "What are you doing on this ship? Where's King Alfor? What have you done with him?" she asked. Keith lifted his hands into the air and kept looking at the Alteans with wonder.

"You're supposed to be extinct," he said, wonder in his eyes.

The man's weapon faltered as shock made him go slack. The man who had fallen was now sitting up but seemed to tense. The woman shot to her feet and pushed Pidge and Shiro aside moving to the control panel. the pads activated at her touch and then her hands were flying over the screen. She stopped and the shock washed away from her face as she looked to the men. "Altea's gone. Father's dead. It's been ten thousand years." She fell than, her legs giving out from beneath her. The man shot up and pointed his gun back at Keith, anger replacing his shock.

"What the hell? What did you do?!"

Keith opened his mouth to answer but was interrupted when Pidge stepped in front of him, spreading their arms out. 

"He doesn't mean you any harm," they said. 

"Don't mean us any harm?" It was the girl this time. "He's Galra. Do you know what Zarkon did during his reign? What he must've done while he was still leading?"

"What he's doing now," Keith interjected. 

The woman stopped and turned to Keith. "Zarkon's still alive?" she asked. 

Keith nodded. "And he's working with the druids."

The younger man asked, "And why is it that you're against him, then?"

"I'm a halfling," Kaith answered. "Zarkon hates halflings." The man pulled his weapon back and let it fall to his side. He continued to glare at Keith but moved on. 

"How did you all get here?" he asked. 

"In a giant yellow space lion," Pidge answered. Three heads swiveled to Pidge shocked. 

"You piloted a lion of Voltron?" she asked. 

"No, not me-"

"I did," Hunk said. The two white haired aliens glanced at each other and their gazes seemed to harden. They looked around at the small group of people gathered on the control deck. 

"It seems the Universe would like us to fight back," she muttered. She turned to the younger man and said, "We have to find the other lions." The boy nodded. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kay, here it is. Chapter 2. Done. I hope you like it.  
> Thank you for all of the comments on the previous chapters. :D :D


	4. Lost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The lions are hidden and they have to be found

"What's your name?" Allura asked the yellow paladin. 

"Hunk," he answered. 

"Hunk you'll take Lance to the blue lion. He knows where it is," she said. Allura went walked away from the panel and back towards a large crystal. Before she could step onto the platform, Lance grabbed her arm and pulled her close. 

"Are you sure?" Lance whispered, glancing behind her at the Galra. 

"He doesn't seem so bad, Lance, give him a chance," she whispered and she continued to the crystal. She stood just under it and closed her eyes. 

"What's she doing?"

Coran answered, "She's looking for the lions. Her quintessence is tied to them. Only she can find them." 

"Why can't he?" the small one asked. 

"She's the oldest, therefore the next ruler and next commander of Voltron," Lance answered. "Technically I could find one, but I don't have to because I know where she is."

"What happened to the other paladins?" Hunk asked. Lance's eyes went blank and he looked to the ground. Before he could answer the crystal began to glow and a map filled the room. 

"These are coordinates?" 

"What's your name?" Lance asked the human with glasses. 

"Pidge," they answered.

Lance nodded and turned to the tall human with the white hair, "And you?" he asked. 

"I'm Shiro," he answered. 

Allura walked down to the group and looked at the Galra, "And what's your name?" she asked. 

His ears flattened to his head and he blushed, not expecting someone to ask. "Keith," he answered. Allura nodded and turned to the map. "The green lion, which will be piloted by Pidge is here," she pointed to a green dot in the map. "It's a peaceful planet, at least it used to be, so there shouldn't be much to worry about." She pointed to the blue dot. "Blue is still on her original planet, and there's no life there so it should also be peaceful."

"What about the purple lion?" Hunk asked. 

"Black lion," Allura corrected.

"That's here with the yellow lion, isn't it" Pidge asked. 

"Correct," Allura said, "but it can't be accessed without the other four lions."

"Four, but that was only three?" Pidge asked. 

"I can't seem to locate the red lion. That's why, Keith, you'll stay here." Allura turned to him, "Once we find it, I can send you to get it." Then, the alarms wailed and all of them jumped. Allura rushed back to the panels and cursed. "There's a Galran ship," she yelled. 

"How long do we have?" 

"Not long," Keith answered. 

"We have to hurry! Let's go!" Lance yelled, practically pushing everyone out of the control room. "Coran, get them to a pod!" he ordered as he followed Hunk to the yellow lion. He really hoped they all made it back in time. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Three is done! Everything will be edited shortly, especially this part.


	5. Not A Chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just an update

While I love this story and will continue it in the future, I  _have_ to outline it first or it won't get done. Ever. Also, this story is a lot like another story about basically the same thing so there will be major changes to the story. Instead of scifi space adventures the setting and physics will change along with some of the characters. I will be taking this down so that I can give everyone a fresh start to the story because it will be vastly different. Thank you so much for your kind comments and kudos. 

 

This will be deleted after I complete the first chapter. 


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